(INVESTIGATOR'S NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO MAINTAIN ANONYMITY)
FEBRUARY 11, 2013
Hello mi familia!!! I miss and love you so much :) but the work here in LA is amazing and keeps me busy! I am truly loving being a missionary! Oh and Mckay I bawled like a baby when I read your email. I am going to write you hand written letter next week about it and how proud of you I am and how much I love you :) So heres the deal you can only send letters to the mission office... Yes I live in the apartments behind the VC, but I don’t know the address. Our district leaders pick up the mail on Thursday morning, but we can’t open it until Monday during our preparation day. Because I work in the VC our email time is different every Monday. Last week it was in the morning so I could write letters and responses to the emails after, but this week it is in the afternoon which means I can’t write back until next P.Day :( And I haven’t received anything yet... but when I do I will let you know. As for now I am doing great!.
This week literally flew by!!!!!! It goes so fast! I also feel like I have been doing this my whole life though! Our investigator is progressing and is set to be baptized on the 24th! He wanted to move up his date to the 17th, but we want to make sure he is prepared- He is soo excited to be baptized! I wish more people were that way- so excited to follow the Lord and intern receive immense blessing from Him! God truly is simple and magnificent isn’t he? Seek him and Keep his commandments and he will Bless you! As we were teaching him we discovered he was a Coffee drinker... He was worried about how he could stop drinking coffee, but he told us he was determined to follow Gods commandments and committed to never drink it again. He has stuck true to his word and is living the Word of Wisdom! I am soo proud of him! I can’t wait to see him enter the waters of baptisms and Covenant with God! I have been learning so much about the Doctrine of Christ and understanding more fully my own conversion and promises I have made with God. It made me wonder if I ever fully knew what I promised at Baptism- to Keep Gods Commandments, to bare one another’s burdens, to repent of our sins, and take upon us His name! and in turn if we do these things he will bless us, forgive us, and give us eternal life with our families! And on top of it all we get the companionship of the Holy Ghost to guide us, protect us, and testify of truth! I love the simplicity and power of the Gospel and the covenants we make. And what a loving Heavenly Father who gave us the sacrament to allow us to renew these every week. I feel as if everything has taken on greater meaning! - Don’t get me started on Scripture study! Its definitely a feast! I really encourage all of you to pick up your Book of Mormon and read it and read it and read it! It is truly a rare possession and such a gift!
So i knocked on my first doors this week... am I grateful I am in a Visitor Center and generally have too many appointments in our Area to be knocking too many doors. I love street contacting, I love teaching in the VC, and teaching in people’s homes are by far my favorite ( I love to teach :) I can’t imagine where I got that from...?) But knocking on doors terrified me! haha No one even opened the door haha! I am going to brave my fears of door knocking soon enough - I just know it!
Another fear I am trying to face... SEAFOOD..... I have a mental disorder! there I finally admitted it! (are you happy papi?;) ) I don’t know why but I can’t eat it... We were having dinner at a members home who are recent converts. They are living proof of the truthfulness of this Gospel! And the brother used to do heavy drugs and they had a lot of family problems... You would think this family was a completely different family. They are happy, loving members of Christ's Church. They have incredible testimonies! We met an Atheist on the street who said he still prays! when we asked him why he still prays he said... "Well for some reason it works... I don’t know how but when I pray things just turn out better.. I think humans were meant to Pray" :) we got his information and hopefully the missionaries will be there to visit him soon! Anyway the Gospel of Jesus Christ Works! The family we just met are living proof of it! You just have to try it! Try reading the Book of Mormon and Praying and Going to church! Once you’ve done that the journey is easier because you can feel the blessing of the Gospel and the immense changes it is bringing. The hard part is opening the door- beginning the change! anyway back to seafood... they made us some shrimp soup... I almost died.... I ate the soup and the vegetables around the shrimp haha but I want you all to know I ate one Shrimp!! and swallowed! I prayed the whole time and felt really good about the situation. One step at a time right? soup invested with shrimp and one piece of shrimp! I really feel this is good progress who knows next time maybe I will try two! And no I didn’t like it. (just for Clarification!)
I LOVE MY COMPANION!! Sister Stevens is an absolute crazy, wonderful, ray of sunshine! We have a blast together and I am learning so much from her!
I wish there was more time to write, but know I am doing great, I am loving being a missionary, and that I love you all!
Happy Valentines this week! Remember true love is shown through deeds and works not empty words!
Hello mi familia!!! I miss and love you so much :) but the work here in LA is amazing and keeps me busy! I am truly loving being a missionary! Oh and Mckay I bawled like a baby when I read your email. I am going to write you hand written letter next week about it and how proud of you I am and how much I love you :) So heres the deal you can only send letters to the mission office... Yes I live in the apartments behind the VC, but I don’t know the address. Our district leaders pick up the mail on Thursday morning, but we can’t open it until Monday during our preparation day. Because I work in the VC our email time is different every Monday. Last week it was in the morning so I could write letters and responses to the emails after, but this week it is in the afternoon which means I can’t write back until next P.Day :( And I haven’t received anything yet... but when I do I will let you know. As for now I am doing great!.
This week literally flew by!!!!!! It goes so fast! I also feel like I have been doing this my whole life though! Our investigator is progressing and is set to be baptized on the 24th! He wanted to move up his date to the 17th, but we want to make sure he is prepared- He is soo excited to be baptized! I wish more people were that way- so excited to follow the Lord and intern receive immense blessing from Him! God truly is simple and magnificent isn’t he? Seek him and Keep his commandments and he will Bless you! As we were teaching him we discovered he was a Coffee drinker... He was worried about how he could stop drinking coffee, but he told us he was determined to follow Gods commandments and committed to never drink it again. He has stuck true to his word and is living the Word of Wisdom! I am soo proud of him! I can’t wait to see him enter the waters of baptisms and Covenant with God! I have been learning so much about the Doctrine of Christ and understanding more fully my own conversion and promises I have made with God. It made me wonder if I ever fully knew what I promised at Baptism- to Keep Gods Commandments, to bare one another’s burdens, to repent of our sins, and take upon us His name! and in turn if we do these things he will bless us, forgive us, and give us eternal life with our families! And on top of it all we get the companionship of the Holy Ghost to guide us, protect us, and testify of truth! I love the simplicity and power of the Gospel and the covenants we make. And what a loving Heavenly Father who gave us the sacrament to allow us to renew these every week. I feel as if everything has taken on greater meaning! - Don’t get me started on Scripture study! Its definitely a feast! I really encourage all of you to pick up your Book of Mormon and read it and read it and read it! It is truly a rare possession and such a gift!
So i knocked on my first doors this week... am I grateful I am in a Visitor Center and generally have too many appointments in our Area to be knocking too many doors. I love street contacting, I love teaching in the VC, and teaching in people’s homes are by far my favorite ( I love to teach :) I can’t imagine where I got that from...?) But knocking on doors terrified me! haha No one even opened the door haha! I am going to brave my fears of door knocking soon enough - I just know it!
Another fear I am trying to face... SEAFOOD..... I have a mental disorder! there I finally admitted it! (are you happy papi?;) ) I don’t know why but I can’t eat it... We were having dinner at a members home who are recent converts. They are living proof of the truthfulness of this Gospel! And the brother used to do heavy drugs and they had a lot of family problems... You would think this family was a completely different family. They are happy, loving members of Christ's Church. They have incredible testimonies! We met an Atheist on the street who said he still prays! when we asked him why he still prays he said... "Well for some reason it works... I don’t know how but when I pray things just turn out better.. I think humans were meant to Pray" :) we got his information and hopefully the missionaries will be there to visit him soon! Anyway the Gospel of Jesus Christ Works! The family we just met are living proof of it! You just have to try it! Try reading the Book of Mormon and Praying and Going to church! Once you’ve done that the journey is easier because you can feel the blessing of the Gospel and the immense changes it is bringing. The hard part is opening the door- beginning the change! anyway back to seafood... they made us some shrimp soup... I almost died.... I ate the soup and the vegetables around the shrimp haha but I want you all to know I ate one Shrimp!! and swallowed! I prayed the whole time and felt really good about the situation. One step at a time right? soup invested with shrimp and one piece of shrimp! I really feel this is good progress who knows next time maybe I will try two! And no I didn’t like it. (just for Clarification!)
I LOVE MY COMPANION!! Sister Stevens is an absolute crazy, wonderful, ray of sunshine! We have a blast together and I am learning so much from her!
I wish there was more time to write, but know I am doing great, I am loving being a missionary, and that I love you all!
Happy Valentines this week! Remember true love is shown through deeds and works not empty words!